Voyages In Time ~ Family, Friends & Places

Elizabeth Tompson Smith (probably a cousin)
Born Norwich, Norfolk UK circa 1834

The Reverend James Francis Smythe
Born Bristol, Somerset - circa 1830

The image (right) is a scan from an original bookplate photograph of James Francis Smythe - used by courtesy of The Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford, with thanks to Susan Mills, Librarian. "James Francis Smythe was born on October 29th 1832 in Bristol. He died at Moseley, Birmingham in 1902. (quoted from Baptist Handbook 1903) The birth year quoted is at variance with official records.

James Francis Smythe became a Baptist Minister. He was the son of Francis Smythe (or Smith) who was a "Cooper Master".

James Francis (Smith) Smythe
Baptist Minister - Worstead, York, Canterbury, Bolton, Berkhamsted & Small Heath, Birmingham.

Census records suggest that 1831 might have been his birth year - and Smith family of Bristol research for 2002/3 suggests 1830 as his birth year if - which seems likely - his father was a cooper named Francis Smith. It appears that James Francis Smythe may have been given a first name, Benjamin, but rarely used it. His eldest son - Frank Tompson Smythe - also became a Baptist Minister. "Frank" is/was a known form of Francis ...

James Francis Smythe trained at Bristol Baptist College but, "On account of imperfect health he did not accept a pastorate immediately on leaving College but from 1855 to 1858, he edited a paper which was issued from East Dereham, in Norfolk" (Baptist Handbook 1903). (This might have been 'The Dereham and Fakenham Times').

"In 1858 he entered the regular work of the ministry and successively occupied pastorates at Worstead, York, Canterbury, Bolton, Berkhamstead and Small Heath, Birmingham." (Baptist Handbook 1903)

"About three years ago (1900) he retired and soon afterwards removed into the district of Moseley. Together with most of the members of his family he joined the Church at Oxford Road." (Baptist Handbook 1903)

James Francis Smythe was educated in Bristol. He attended - according to Baptist records - the City School - also known as Queen Elizabeth Hospital School. John Tottle - of the QEH Old Boys' Association - however, made (2002) an extensive study of the register of pupils for the era but was unable to locate a reference for him.

First Marriage - He was married on the 10th November 1858 at The Independent Chapel, East Dereham, Norfolk England. "Married in the Independent Chapel according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Baptist Dissenters". Described as of Full age. A Dissenting Minister. His father is named as Francis Smythe, and is described as a 'Cooper Master.' The bride's name is listed as Eleanor Cooper.

Eleanor Cooper was the daughter of William Cooper, a Landed Proprietor. The bride's residence is given as 'of Russell Place, East Dereham'. The witnesses were: William Cooper (the bride's father), Edward Wigg and Hannah Wigg and Elijah Gould with Fanny Shalders. The Minister was (Chas?) Gould and the Registrar, William Mark Warcup. (Marriage Certificate Certified Copy TG602799 29th October 2002 (his birthday - uncanny!) signed by A. Dagless - Registrar 2002) The following Will details are avaiable from the internet -"Edward WIGG of St Stephens, Norwich, cab driver died 25 Dec 1872 [age 58] at St Stephens ADMON proved at NORWICH 28 Jan 1873 by Hannah WIGG widow effects under £1,000."

His second wife, Elizabeth Tompson Smith was possibly a cousin. Census listing for Smythe confirmed below as:

Notes September 2004

An analysis of the transcripts (Ancestry.com) of the 1871 Census provides the following information:

James F(rancis) Smythe and Isabella (Elizabeth) T(ompson) Smythe are living in York at 26 St. Paul's Square (Civil Parish of St. Mary Bishopshill Junior). James F. Smythe shows his age as 40, born at Bristol in Somerset and states that he is a Minister of the Baptist Church (Priory Street is mentioned). Elizabeth is shown as being aged 37. She is stated to have been born at Smallboro(ugh) in Norfolk. Also listed is Mary E. Smythe, aged 11, born at Warncod (Worstead) in Norfolk (daughter by first marriage of J.F.S. to Eleanor Cooper.)

They have living with them, a 20 year old servant named Elizabeth Hands, born at Saddlethorpe, Yorks. Arthur J(ames) Smythe is listed as being 5 years old and born at Warncod (Worstead) Norfolk. Edwin C. Smythe is 11 months old, born at York. Emily E (Roberts) Smythe is 7 and born at (Worstead), Frances E. Smythe is 3 years old - also born at York.

Frank T(ompson) Smythe is shown as being 9 years old and born at (Worstead) Warncod in Norfolk.

1891 British Census Details

James Francis Smythe and his wife, Elizabeth (then aged 57), were living at 126, Boxwell Road in Berkhempstead, Hertfordshire. By this time, only the youngest three children were living at home with their parents. The census of 1891 was conducted on April 5th of that year and James Francis Smythe accords himself - or is accorded - the age of 60. If his birth month was October - as is suggested by Baptist records - then this would place his birth year firmly as 1830 - in line with the research of John Butland Watts (qv next generation back with allied family research details) - and thus strenghten the evidence of his being the first-born son of Francis Smith/Smyth and Martha Roberts.

Helen M. Smythe was aged eighteen and had become a pupil teacher.

Kate Smythe had probably left school by then and was aged sixteen but she is not attributed as a scholar and is not shown as having any employment either.

The youngest child, Mabel Smythe, is listed as a scholar and aged thirteen.

Frank Smythe - the eldest son, had become a Baptist Minister by then and was aged twenty-nine - married to Ada, who is listed as aged twenty-seven and deaf.

There are no children as yet. The address given is 192, Kettering Road, Northampton. They had a sixteen year old general servant girl named as Mary J. Harvey - born in Buckinghamshire.

Arthur Smythe had moved to London. He was twenty-four and his address is given as 60, Lady Margaret Road, St. Pancras where he was a Boarder. The Head of the household was Solomon Hood, - a "Mantle Cutter" - probably associated with James Drew, father of Frank's wife, Ada.

James Drew was a successful Hosier. At this time, Arthur was working as a Schools' Board Clerk.

In the meantime, Edwin Smythe, seems to have struck out on his own too. At the age of nineteen, he is listed as Edwin E. Smythe - head of the household (of two) - and living at 28, Newtown Street, St. Mary, Leicester.

His Lodger is noted as being Ernest A. Stubbs, then aged eighteen.

Emily R(oberts) Smythe was twenty-six by this date and was living as a boarder at "Tranmere", Milton Road in Bexhill, East Sussex.

She was employed as a Nursery Servant - assumed to be the maid - carer of children - as opposed to one who looked after the needs of plants ...

Her death is recorded in the district of Conway (Wales) (Volume 11b; page 323) for the September quarter returns of 1898, aged 33.

It should be noted that "Roberts" was the family name of their grandmother - their father's mother was born Martha Roberts, in about 1808, in Bristol.

Frances E. Smythe had turned twenty-two and was a Governess in the London Borough of Streatham. She worked for a Bank Cashier named John E. Roberts and his wife, Mary A. Roberts at 4, Glen Eldon Road.

There were two older children, Edith M. Roberts (13) and Margaret Roberts (11). The younger children were Alexander Roberts (5) and Edith J. Roberts (3).

Mrs. Mary Roberts had just been delivered of another daughter who was less than one month old on census day and was, as yet, unnamed.

Details from the 1901 UK Census:

James Francis Smythe was 69 at census date (March) 1901. His wife Elizabeth F. Smythe, was 67. (Second name initial is at variance with 1881 census) They lived at 45 Kingswood Road, Balsall Heath, (St. Paul's) Birmingham. They seemed to like the number 45!

Emily Roberts Smythe died in 1898.
Frances E. Smythe is not listed.

The 1901 Census also shows a grandchild, Gladys Holgall - (says notorious 1901) - actually, it's Holgate - aged 12, as being at the house at census point. This would be the daughter of Mary Ella Smythe (the only child of the first marriage of James Francis Smythe to Eleanor Cooper) born at Worstead circa 1860 and married 1886 (see below).

Gladys (Holgate) is noted as being born in Macedonia (USA) circa 1889. Mary Ella SMYTHE, is mentioned in the texts of James Francis Smythe career section (linked above).

This information c/o Ancestry.com
search facilities from P.R.O. UK

Smythe, Mary Ella
spouse's name Joseph Holgate

Year 1886 June Quarter Record type Marriages
District Blackburn
Volume 8e Page 560

Frank T. Smythe (39) was married and living in Northampton, nearing the end of his first major pastorate as a Baptist Minister. He and his wife, Ada Josephine Drew (37), lived at 166 Abington Avenue in the Parish of St. Giles, Northampton. Ada J. Smythe is noted as being DEAF in the "infirmity" section. Listed as being at home at census point were their daughters, Marjorie J. S. Smythe (8) and Phyllis M. S. Smythe (5). (S should read D for Drew, in reality - see transcript of Ada Smythe's will.). A Domestic Servant, Lucy David - (21) - born at Silverstone, Northants - was also at the address at census point.

Arthur J. Smythe (35) was living at 44 Thorny Hedge Road in Acton, Middlesex (Gunnersbury, St. James) and is listed as a Journalist and Author. Married to Sarah - (25) - probably Evans, born circa 1876 in Tenby, Pembrokeshire in Wales.

They were married in Cardiff in 1895. By 1901 they had a daughter, Mabel Smythe (4) and a son, Lionel Smythe (3) - both born in Chiswick Middlesex. Living with them at the time was Lily Gamble, Domestic Servant from Halton? (Hatton ? - where his sister-in-law, Ada Drew's family came from - 'Hatton Road') Middlesex.

Smythe, Lionel

Year:	1898	Quarter:	June
Record Type:	Births	Volume:	3a
District:	Brentford	Page:	115

Edwin G. Smythe - single - (30) was living in Balsall Heath and was working as a stores clerk in a cycle works.
Helen M. Smythe - single (28) was living in Balsall Heath and was working as a Board School teacher.
Kate Smythe - single - (26) was living in Balsall Heath and is not shown as having work.
Mabel Smythe - single - (23) was living at Balsall Heath and was working as a clerk in a sealing works.

?Benjamin James Francis Smythe

born Bristol on 29th October 1830
educated at The City School
child chorister at Temple Church
died Moseley, Birmingham on 19th October 1902.

The City School - aka - Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School (Q.E.H.) Bristol

The school was established (as a bluecoat foundation) in the buildings of the dissolved Hospital of the Gaunts. Founded by John Carr, a soap merchant, in 1590, on the model of Christ's Hospital, London, it received its royal charter in a grant by Queen Elizabeth I in the same year and a grant of arms - which includes Bristol's ship-and-castle crest - a little later.

Those who see the students of QEH file into the Lord Mayor's Chapel for Council Prayers wearing their traditional dress are seeing living history. The blue-coats, girdles, preaching bands, moleskin breeches and bright yellow socks of what is sometimes called "The City School" have survived four centuries of change. Today, the school is famous for its rugby, music and drama.

Note on Arthur J. Smythe - 2nd son of James Francis Smythe - he was an actor/writer and clearly transmitted a love of acting to his nephew, Henry James Drew Smythe. The latter became a celebrated Bristol surgeon but frequently took part in amateur productions from Medical student days onwards.

Smythe, Arthur J. The Life of William Terriss Actor. Westminster: Archibald Constable, 1898. - written c. age 32.
Any reader of this page with knowledge of the location of a copy of this volume is encouraged to make contact via e-mail.

On December 16th, 1897, William Terriss was stabbed to death as he was about to enter the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre. The assailant was a disgruntled actor named Richard Archer Prince. The murder - and Prince's subsequent trial - filled the newspapers for weeks. "Smythe" was a fellow actor at the Adelphi at the time. He played the part of Francois for 69 performances in In the Days of the Duke which ran from 9th September to 20th November 1897. William Terriss played Col. Aylmer and Lawrence Aylmer, Captain Grenadier Guards in the same production and opened a few days later in the rôle of Lewis Dumont for 22 performances of Secret Service - 24th November - 15th December 1897. He was murdered the following day, on December 16th.

TERRISS, WILLIAM (1847—1897)

English actor, whose real name was William Charles James Lewin, was born in London on the 20th of February 1847. After trying the merchant service, medicine, sheep-farming in the Falkland Isles, and tea-planting in Bengal, in 1867 he took to the stage, for which his handsome presence, fine voice and gallant bearing eminently fitted him.

His first appearance in London was as Lord Cloudrays in.Robertson’s Society, at the old Prince of Wales’s theatre. He quickly came into favour in “hero” parts, and appeared at the principal London theatres from 1868 onwards. In 1880 he joined Irving’s company at the Lyceum, playing such parts as Cassio and Mercutio, and in 1885 he acted there with Mary Anderson, as Romeo to her Juliet.

He was then engaged to take the leading parts in Adelphi melodrama, and it was in this capacity that for the rest of his career he was best known, though he occasionally acted elsewhere, notably with Irving at the Lyceum. His last appearance was in Secret Service.

Terriss married Miss Isabel Lewis, and his daughter Ellaline Terriss (Mrs Seymour Hicks) became a well-known’ actress in musical comedy, in association with her husband Edward Seymour Hicks (b. 1871), proprietor of the Aldwych and Hicks theatres in London.

On the 16th of December 1897, as he was entering the Adelphi theatre, William Terriss was stabbed to death by Richard Arthur Prince.

The Background to this event in more detail

Sir Rowland Hill 1795-1879

Two biographies were written about him; the first by G. B .Hill in 1880 and the second by E. C. Smythe in 1907. (SMYTH, Eleanor C. Sir Rowland Hill: The Story of a Great Reform: Told by his Daughter. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1907. 327pp.)
Valerie Hill, writing from America, states: "This E. C. Smythe is Eleanor Caroline Smythe, [1831 - 1926] daughter of Sir Rowland Hill." - January 2003. Valerie's information, therefore, links Eleanor Caroline Hill with a Smythe family male of this era and further information is currently awaited.

Rowland Hill was an educator, inventor, and postal reformer. He introduced the system of self-government in his school at Hazelwood in Birmingham. In his Plans for the Government and Education of Boys in Large Numbers (1822) he argued that moral influence of the highest kind should be the predominant power in school discipline. After his retirement from teaching (1833), Hill invented a rotary printing press and evolved a system of prepaid penny postage that was finally adopted in 1839. From 1854 to his retirement from public office in 1864 he was secretary to the Post Office. He was knighted in 1860.

Rowland Hill (Later Sir Rowland) 1795~1879. The postal system that has spread throughout the world, was first suggested in 1837 by Rowland Hill. He proposed that the postal charges be based on weight, not on distance, and that the sender, not the recipient, pay for the stamp. Hill’s adhesive stamp design featured Queen Victoria against a black background and was called a Penny Black. He is buried in the chapel of St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey.

Hill and Eleanor (Hill) Smyth ...

ROWLAND HILL - 1840 AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, TO THE EDITOR OF THE "LIVERPOOL MERCURY" REF. THE TOWN's PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION FOR A PRESENTATION SILVER SALVER; 10th Nov. 1840 Autograph Letter (cut and hinged for display) signed "Rowland Hill" to "Egerton Smith Esq." (Editor of the Liverpool Mercury), acknowledging the receipt of a recent "copy of the Liverpool Mercury" with details of the town's "subscription". The citizens of Liverpool raised funds to present Hill with a "very beautiful silver salver" (in April 1841) in recognition of his part in the Introduction of Cheap Postage [see Hill's autobiography, vol.1, p.442]. This 20-inch diameter silver salver still exists and is preserved amongst the National Postal Museum collections; it is illustrated in Fryer's book on Postal Reform, p.1191.

ROWLAND HILL - PERSONAL AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, REF. HIS FUTURE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW's MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT; 19th Oct. 1865 letter (on embossed "HAMPSTEAD N.W." notepaper) to "Mr. Walters" (presumably the Hill family's solicitor) regarding "two points on which I should like again to see Pearson [Hill; his only son] before the [marriage] proposals are sent to Lucas..." Pearson Hill was to marry Jane D'Esterre Roberts in 1866; the letter is annotated "P. Hill's Marriage Settlement" on the back.

ROWLAND HILL - AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, TO HIS BROTHER, PLUS OTHER HILL FAMILY AUTOGRAPHS; Fine small "24th May [c.1869?]" letter to "Dear Arthur" (Hill's younger brother, 1798-1885) ref. the fact that "Caroline [Hill's wife] and I are going to Brighton to stay till Thursday" written and signed by Rowland Hill himself; plus a fine 1856 1d Red env. with v. fine blue-black "NOTTINGHAM" sideways duplex addressed to "Edwin Hill, Bruce Castle..." signed by "Marcia Hill" (Rowland Hill's niece; writing to her father), and rare 21st Feb. 1881 autograph mourning note signed by Rowland Hill's widow "C[aroline]. Hill" addressed to a "Colonel Manly".

SMYTH	Eleanor Caroline		March 7 1831	Dec 31 1926	Cremated	Formerly Fellows 2nd daughter
			born	died		of Sir Rowland Hill

See: "an Indian girl - from an original and unpublished photo taken in 1862 for Mrs. Caroline Smyth, formerly Mrs. Arthur Fellows, and daughter of the Postal Reformer Sir Rowland Hill". via this source

"Tu-te-ma (Lucy) (lightening) and her mother in a canoe, Barkley Sound, Shee-shadt tribe".

Carloline Smythe writes: "But my chief friend from the village was Lucy, a girl like her parents, had come under the influence of Bishop Demers...and his catholic missionaries. No walrus tooth in chin, no hideous malformation of cranium, no painted face, had Lucy; and she was as good a girl and sweet-tempered, capable, industrious as any maid could be. She used to paddle her small canoe across from the village, draw it up, and leave it on the pebbly shore, appearing at our door punctuality personified." From An Octogenarian's Reminiscences. Eleanor Caroline Fellows, privately published in London, 1916, p. 95.

source SMYTHE Benjamin James, 29	hd, wdr, Baptist Minister	Bristol Somersetshire	1198/121/11.
SMYTHE Mary Ella, 1	daughter	Worstead	1198/121/11.
SMITH Elizabeth, 27 This is now proven to be his second wife Elizabeth Tompson Smith.	vis, unm Visiting on census day and unmarried at this time.	Norwich Elizabeth,was born in Norwich in about 1834.	1198/121/11.
SHALDERS Jane, 40	housekeeper, unm	Worstead	1198/121/11.
COX Mary Anne, 18	serv, unm house maid	Smallburgh	1198/121/11.
READ Sarah, 18	serv, unm, house maid	Mundesley	1198/121/11.

Place	Register	Year	Surname, Forename, Age	Position, Status, Occupation	Born	Fol/Page - No.
Tunstead & Happing District	Worstead	1861	SMYTHE Benjamin James, 29	hd, wdr, Baptist Minister	Bristol Somersetshire	1198/121/11.
Tunstead & Happing District	Worstead	1861	SMYTHE Mary Ella, 1	daughter	Worstead	1198/121/11.